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Truly Outrageous: Candace Cameron on Leggings

Chances are, long (like loooong) before your 9-to-5 clock-punching days, you got jazzed about Fridays for one reason only: Full House and the rest of ABC tv's TGIF line-up. If visions of San Francisco row houses, Kimmy Gibbler's puffy headbands and baby Olsens just danced through your head then, you're going to love this one, 'cuz today Candace Cameron (aka the one-and-only D.J. Tanner) is in the 'house.

We caught up with Candace during a break while shooting her new show, Make It Or Break It--where she plays the coach of a group of olympic-hopeful gymnasts--to talk about the return of the '80s trends. Here, she explains the kind of things our inner 4th grader has wanted to know for years: how she got her bangs to stay that way, where she got all her cool clothes and why our Hyper-color t-shirts never looked as good as hers. If you have an involuntary spasm while reading this and find yourself saying (and miming, Gibbler-style) "Cut. It. Out!" it's not our fault:

Slaves to Fashion: What’s your go-to uniform these days?Candace Cameron: My go-to is always a pair of jeans that I can wear with heels, and a white tank top. I live in it. If it’s not jeans and heels then it’s flip-flops and jeans. I’m a mom with 3 kids so I have to wear something that’s versatile and that can be dressed up in a hurry.

STF: Of all the movies and tv shows that you’ve been on, which wardrobe have you liked best?CC: honestly have to say that I’ve never loved all the character’s wardrobes, with the exception of the new show that I’m on now, Make it or Break It. It’s like the first time that I’ve been like “Wow!” these clothes are fitting great and are super cute. I think I’ve worn every Trina Turk and Rebecca Taylor dress in the summer collections. It’s nice because I’m the one on the show who has the good clothes. Everyone else is like “I have to wear a leotard and you get all the cute dresses!”

STF: Which wardrobe was most closely aligned with your own style?CC: I’d have to say Full House, just because I was on the show for eight years and really they would see what I was wearing and they’d choose my wardrobe based along the kind of styles I was into at the beginning of the season. And they always enhanced what I was wearing and make it look better because they’d accessorize it, color coordinate it, pick the right shoes, etc.

STF: How did you wind up having so much input on the wardrobe?CC: I would come in at the beginning of each season and they’d ask me “What do you like? What are you into these days?” Then they’d go out and track down things similar to what I was already wearing. It was a really amazing feeling, but I didn’t feel stylish, let me tell you. It’s really surprising. I’ve heard from so many people “I had your dress or I wanted to dress like D.J.” And it’s a little bit like “Really?!”

STF: Was there any outfit that you didn’t like?CC: I was pretty much happy with all of the clothes on the show. There was really only one problem outfit in the eight years that we were working. There was this episode where I was going to a dance—and I was 13 years old at the time—and they had picked out a really sweet dress for me. But I was in this stage where I was like “ I don’t want to wear a dress!”

STF: What did you want to wear?CC: There was a back-up outfit that was all black: MC Hammer pants, a rhinestone-studded bustier and then a bolero that would go over the top. Which I’m sure you can imagine was horrible, but soooo hot at the time. They had to camera test me because they reeeeally wanted me to wear this sweet little dress. So I came out in the dress and I stood on camera and I started sobbing like crazy, crying “You can’t make me wear this dress!” They had no choice but to put me in that outfit, and I thought I looked sooooo cool. As an adult—and now as a parent—I think “Oh man, I should have just worn that cute little dress. That was terrible.”

STF: What do you think of all the ‘80s and ‘90s trends that are coming back into fashion?CC: Some of them I’ve been having a hard time with, and some of them have been fun. I remember that most of the ‘80s and ‘90s I was in leggings and bike shorts with the lace on the bottoms. I wore SO many of those that when leggings came back a few years ago, I couldn’t do it. I was like “Am I trying to relive my childhood here?” It wasn’t until this past summer that I broke down and actually bought a pair of leggings.

STF: Yeah, we’re all just waiting until scrunchies and knotted t-shirts come back.CC: I just bought a t-shirt that’s cut that way! The bottom of the shirt is just shaped that way though—it’s not like a bought one of those plastic loops or anything.

STF: Speaking of, is there any trend that you have put on your NO WAY list?CC: The one thing I just don’t ever want to see back are shoulder pads. I had custom-made shoulder pads during the time of the show. I don’t know why—maybe the regular ones were too big or too puffy, but they made me my own shoulder pads and they clipped onto my bra straps to—as my mom would say—even out my shoulders and give me a waist. Which is just so crazy. For 3 or 4 years I would wear them under everything—under t-shirts, blazers, everything. Who ever thought that looked good? I mean, I don’t mind them under a blazer. But under t-shirts? I don’t think you could pay me to wear them again. I can’t believe I was ten, eleven, twelve—wearing shoulder pads! That’s just crazy to me.

STF: You also had some pretty memorable hairstyles on the show...CC:Here’s the deal with the hair. The 2nd season I had a perm, so I came into the show each day with it curly and ready to go. And then we let the perm grow out and I had the straight hair with the winged bangs--but not in the ‘80s New Jersey kind of way. My bangs still covered my forehead and had some nice volume to it—it wasn’t straight up like a wall. My mom had this hairdresser that she was going to in Beverly Hills, which was really a big deal because we didn’t really go into Beverly Hills that often and we didn’t have a lot of money when we were kids. So one day she had this hairdresser create this great look for me—the straight hair and the big bangs. I went to the set with it like that and we all thought that was so cool but the stylists on Full House just couldn’t get it right. So for about 4 years, every tape day, I would go to the salon in Beverly Hills and be washed and blow-dried then go the set to and just have my makeup done.

STF: What do your kids think when they see the show? Can they make the connection that it’s you?CC: Oh yeah. They know it’s me and they like the show and of course, sometimes they laugh at me at what I’m wearing. My eleven year-old daughter is always like “Mom, you were so not cool.”

A few of fall's D.J. Tanner-worthy leggings:

Did anyone else have a big girl crush on Candace? Did you ever try to copy any of her looks? Can you believe she had custom shoulder pads?!